The Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak has questioned the loud silence of the Council of State on President Akufo-Addo’s appointment of new Electoral Commissioners.
This comes on the back of the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) demanding the immediate resignation of two out of the three newly appointed commissioners to the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC).
President Akufo-Addo on March 20 sworn into office Dr. Peter Appiahene, Haji Salima Ahmed Tijani and Rev. Akua Ofori Boateng urged them to uphold diligence in executing their mandate.
But CODEO said their partisan stands of Dr. Peter Appiahene, Haji Salima Ahmed Tijani will affect the EC’s credibility.
Commenting on the development the Builsa South lawmaker stated that the Council of State must speak out on the many calls for Dr. Peter Appiahene and Haji Salima Ahmed Tijani to be withdrawn.
“Do we still have a Council of State in Ghana? With all the happenings in Ghana it’s either the Council has reneged on its duties or President Akufo-Addo has simply ignored its advice.
“President Akufo-Addo appoints NPP activists as commissioners of the EC and that is acceptable? The Council must speak,” Mr. Apaak tweeted on April 6, 2023.
Meanwhile, CODEO has said the two newly appointed members of the EC whose credibility are being questioned must resign in their own interest.
“This is coming from the Star Ghana and the rest and this is how the CSOs see it, they see it as something that will not augur well for the Electoral Commission. Because the image has dwindled, the EC now has 10percent of confidentiality with regards to the way the people see it.
“This is the background I was talking about how within time the EC has been falling in terms of credibility. So this is a typical case of credibility to let go. The CSOs will meet and depending on whatever happened there may be the next phase of what will come,” Mr. Arhin stated.
He continued: “But you cannot force anybody to resign can you? You cannot force the President to let them resign or whatever and even with case of the people who have already being appointed they have to go through a whole lot of process but we have come out in the public, we have come out with the bare fact about the implications and what the EC can do it image and the overall security of the country. Maybe the people themselves will see that they are treading on dangerous grounds and resign in their own interest.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM
